Cuban  Cane  Sugar 


UC-NRLF 


Eflfl    DM3 


Cuban  Cane  Sugar 


CANE    CRUSHING    IN    CUBA 


Cuban  Cane  Sugar 


sketch  of  the  industry,  from 

soil  to  sack,  together  with  a 

survey  of  the  circumstances 

which  combine  to  make 

Cuba  the  Sugar  Bowl 

of  the  World 


By 
ROBERT    WILES 


ILLUSTRATED      BY 
SIX  PHOTOGRAPHS 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 
1916 


Copyright,  1916 
The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 


Contents 

Page 

I.  OUR    SWEET    TOOTH    GROWING 
SWEETER — AND  WHY 1 

II.  SUGAR  MAKING — FROM  THE  SOIL 
TO  THE  SACK 17 

III.  CANE  vs.  BEET — THE  STRUGGLE 
FOR  SUPREMACY 37 

IV.  CUBA — THE  SUGAR  BOWL  OF  THE 
WORLD 53 

V.  CUBAN  CANE  SUGAR — AMERICA'S 
OPPORTUNITY.  .  69 


978991 


O  £  Z  3 

z  z  <  o 


I.    Our  Sweet  Tooth 
Growing  Sweeter- 

And  Why  " 

OUR  grandfathers,  in  the  early 
'50s,  got  along  well  enough 
with  a  family  sugar  consumption  of 
two  pounds  a  week. 

Our  fathers'  families  in  the  '80s 
ate  about  five  pounds  a  week. 

Twenty  years  later,  in  1900,  we 
were  eating  more  than  six  pounds 
a  week. 

Today  every  American  family  con- 
sumes between  eight  and  nine  pounds 
of  sugar  from  Saturday  till  Satur- 
day. 

Not  the  sugar  in  fruits,  or  the 
sugars  which  we  digest  from  the 
potatoes  or  beans  we  eat,  or  other 
natural  sugars  and  sweets,  but  of 
commercial,  store-bought,  refined 
sugar  we  eat  more  than  eight  pounds. 

Eight   pounds,   plus,   of   sugar   a 

[1] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

week  to  the  family — 421  pounds  a 
•  year-y-«OBie  of  us  eat  less,  and  some 
pf  us  eat  nio.ce.     The  figures  repre- 
,sent  bur  actual  national  average. 

In  two  short  generations  we  have 
developed  a  national  sweet  tooth 
which  calls  for  more  than  four  times 
the  sugar  it  formerly  got. 

Why? 

*         *         *         * 

If  we  look  for  a  moment  at  the 
sugar  consumption  of  some  of  our 
less  fortunate  neighbors  we  may  be 
able  to  see  the  reason,  and  to  read 
the  curious  relation  which  seems  to 
exist  between  sugar  and  prosperity. 

While  we  are  eating  more  than 
eight  pounds  of  sugar  a  week,  for 
example,  the  average  Serbian  family 
of  five  (in  normal  times)  consumes 
but  a  bare  fifteen  ounces;  and  in 
Bulgaria,  Roumania,  and  Italy,  the 
family  consumption  amounts  only 
to  about  a  pound  per  week. 

[3] 


Our      Sweet       Tooth 

The  world  over,  we  will  find— 
with  exceptions,  here  and  there,  to 
prove  the  rule — that  the  poorer  a 
people  the  less  sugar  it  eats,  while 
the  more  spending  money  it  has  the 
more  it  uses — though,  as  we  shall 
see  later,  sugar  is  one  of  the  cheapest 
of  foods. 

The  use  of  sugar  might  well  depend 
upon  many  other  things  than  pros- 
perity. It  might  well  depend  upon 
the  propinquity  of  a  people  to  the 
sugar  market  (and  consequently 
price);  upon  the  character  of  other 
foods  consumed — for  obviously  those 
whose  principal  diet  is  figs  require 
but  little  store-bought  sugar;  upon 
the  quantities  of  beer  or  other  sugar- 
producing  drinks  a  people  uses;  or 
even,  on  national  tradition.  But,  it 
is  interesting  to  note,  from  a  table 
such  as  follows,  how  closely  sugar 
and  spending-money  seem  to  go  hand 
in  hand: 

[3] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 


United  States  (1914) 
Germany  (1913) 
Austria  (1913) 
Italy  (1913) 
Serbia  (1913) 

Per  Capita      Per  Capita 
Circulation    Annual  Sugar 
of  Money     Consumption 

$35.18     84.29lbs. 
19.29     45.13 
12.08     29.17 
8.82      11.68 
6.84      10.03 

England,  with  a  per  capita  circula- 
tion of  money  less  than  five-sevenths 
of  our  own,  has  an  apparent  statis- 
tical consumption  of  93.37  pounds  of 
sugar  per  capita  as  against  our  84.29. 
These  figures  for  consumption  in- 
clude, however,  the  sugar  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  jams,  marma- 
lades and  other  preserves,  much  of 
which  products  are  exported.  If  the 
amount  of  sugar  so  used  and  sent 
out  of  the  country  in  manufactured 
form  were  deducted,  and  if  our  own 
consumption  of  England's  manu- 
factured sweets  added  to  our  quota, 
it  would,  no  doubt,  appear  that 
England's  per  capita  consumption 
was  not  so  high  as  our  own. 
[4] 


Our      Sweet       Tooth 

France,  with  a  per  capita  money 
circulation  larger  than  ours,  con- 
sumes less  sugar — but  the  high  cost 
of  sugar  in  France,  and  the  cheapness 
of  wine,  may  in  a  measure  account 
for  this. 

Australia,  with  $47.18  of  money 
per  capita  as  against  our  $35.18, 
might  reasonably  be  expected  to 
consume  more  sugar — and  she  does 
— 100  pounds  per  capita  per  annum 
as  against  our  84.29. 

The  comparison  is  not  only  true 
as  between  nations.  It  is  true  as 
between  sections  of  the  same  nation, 
as  could  easily  be  shown;  and  it  is 
true  as  between  different  periods  of 
a  nation's  prosperity. 

Taking  our  own  case,  the  com- 
parative figures  read: 

Per  Capita  Per  Capita 

Circulation  Annual  Sugar 

of  Money  Consumption 
1850                          $19.41  39.46 

1880  26.93  58.91 

1914  35.18  84.29 

[5] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

It  would  seem,  if  prosperity  sweet- 
ens our  sweet  tooth,  that  adversity 
should  have  the  opposite  effect. 
But  such  is  not  the  case.  It  is  as  if, 
in  times  of  adversity,  we  were  saying 
to  ourselves,  "We  cannot  afford 
more  sugar — but  we  cannot  get  along 
with  less"  and  so,  as  always,  in 
such  circumstances,  we  limit  our 
expenditures,  but  spend,  really,  a 
little  more  than  we  can  afford. 

The  figures  show  this.  The  de- 
cade, for  example,  between  1890 
and  1900  was  a  period  of  protracted 
and  general  financial  depression  in 
the  United  States.  At  the  beginning 
of  this  decade  the  per  capita  sugar 
consumption  was  60.7  pounds,  while 
at  the  end  of  the  decade  the  con- 
sumption was  61.8  pounds.  In  other 
words,  instead  of  cutting  our  sugar 
down  to  a  point  where  it  had  for- 
merly been,  we  kept  it  at  just  about 
a  constant  level. 

[6] 


Our      Sweet       Tooth 

And  during  the  following  ten 
years — 1900  and  1910 — a  period  rec- 
ognized as  one  of  unprecedented, 
general  prosperity,  we  abandoned 
restraint,  and  our  sugar  consumption 
jumped  from  66.6  pounds  to  81.6 

pounds  per  capita  per  annum. 

*         *         *         * 

It  would  be  putting  the  cart  before 
the  horse,  however,  to  say  that  we 
use  more  sugar  because  we  are 
more  prosperous. 

The  simple  fact  is  that  we  have 
come  more  and  more  to  realize  that 
sugar  is  a  good  food;  as  our  pros- 
perity has  increased  we  have  been 
better  able  to  buy  the  foods  we 
wanted  or  needed;  in  times  of  ad- 
versity we  have  merely  cut  down  on 
those  foods  which  cost  more  and 
gave  us  less  value. 

Where  formerly  we  were  told  that 
sugar  exercised  an  injurious  physical 
effect,  we  know  now  that  it  is  pos- 
[7] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

sible  for  us  to  assimilate  only  so 
much  as  is  good  for  us — no  more; 
and  that  if  we  eat  too  much  sugar,  the 
pangs  of  indigestion  warn  us  of  our 
error  before  any  harm  can  come — if 
we  pay  attention  to  the  warning. 

Where,  formerly,  we  thought  that 
sugar  must  be  bad  for  us  because  we 
liked  the  taste  of  it,  we  now  know 
that  sugar  is  demanded  for  the 
balanced  ration,  that  it  has  a  heat 
and  energy  producing  value  as  great 
as  lean  meat,  and  that  the  nitrogen 
retention  of  proteid  food,  such  as 
meat,  fish,  eggs  and  milk,  is  increased 
25%  when  consumed  with  sugar. 

A  tabulation  of  the  principal  items 
of  diet  may  be  of  interest: 

Available  Energy  When  Consumed  As  Food 

Meat  and  Fish  87% 

Eggs  89% 

Fruits  90% 

Cereals  91% 

Dairy  Products  93% 

Vegetables  95% 

Sugar  98% 

[8] 


Our      Sweet      Tooth 

When  we  realize  that  sugar  costs 
only  in  the  neighborhood*  of  five  or 
six  cents  per  pound  and  that  the 
other  items  listed  run  upward  in 
price  as  high  as  forty  cents  per 
pound,  most  of  them  ranging  be- 
tween twenty  and  thirty  cents,  it 
will  be  seen  why  economy  impels  us 
to  eat  as  much  sugar  as  we  can  in 
connection  with  the  other  foods 
necessary  to  make  a  perfectly  bal- 
anced ration. 

That  sugar  is  no  longer  considered 
a  luxury  can  be  convincingly  read, 
also,  from  the  statistics  of  candy 
consumption. 

Our  national  candy  bill  runs  well 
in  excess  of  $500,000,000  a  year. 
It  amounts  to  more  in  a  single 
twelve-month  than  the  entire  recent 
Anglo-French  loan.  It  represents  a 
per  capita  expenditure  of  more  than 
five  dollars  a  year.  For  many  years 
we  have  been  not  only  unapproached 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

by  any  other  country  in  the  con- 
sumption of  candy,  but  have  con- 
sumed more  than  all  other  countries 
reporting  candy  manufacture. 

New  York  City  is  our  largest  candy 
consuming  centre — the  largest  con- 
suming centre  in  the  world — both  as 
to  total  consumption  and  per  capita 
consumption. 

At  first  thought  we  might  say  that 
New  York  is  a  city  of  wealth  and 
prosperity  and  that  its  enormous 
candy  consumption  represents  the 
gratification  of  a  desire  for  a  luxury. 

But  New  York's  candy  is  not  sold 
to  New  York's  rich — it  is  sold  to  sat- 
isfy the  hunger  of  New  York's  poor. 
Where  New  York  consumes  one 
pound  of  high  priced  candies  it 
consumes  at  least  ten  pounds  of  the 
cheaper  grades  such  as  are  sold  on 
the  push-carts  of  Delancey  Street. 

From  this  we  can  only  judge  that 
there  must  be  an  economic  reason 
[10] 


Our      Sweet      Tooth 

why  our  poor  are  the  great  candy 
consumers;  their  standard  of  living 
is  so  low,  and  the  food  available  to 
them  so  inferior,  that  they  feel, 
constantly,  a  natural  hunger  which 
they  are  most  easily  able  to  satisfy 
through  buying  the  cheaper  and 
more  tempting  sweets. 

From  the  figures,  the  story  of  sugar 
is  plain: 

As  we  learn  more  and  more  the 
value  of  sugar  as  a  food  we  buy  more 
and  more  as  our  pocket-books  per- 
mit us.  Then,  in  times  of  depression 
like  those  we  have  just  gone  through, 
we  eat  slightly  more  sugar  than 
usual,  unconsciously,  perhaps,  be- 
cause we  reduce  our  consumption  of 
the  higher  priced,  less  nourishing 
food-stuffs. 

And,  finally,  with  meats  and  grains 
mounting  higher  and  higher,  while 
sugar,  because  of  improvement  in 
methods  of  production,  has  steadily 

[11] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

gone  lower,  we  turn  more  and  more 

toward  the  consumption  of  sweets. 
*        *        *        • 

There  is  still  another  factor  which 
may  loom  large,  in  the  future,  in 
influencing  the  consumption  of  sugar, 
and  which  cannot  be  overlooked  in 
a  general  survey  such  as  this. 

This  factor  is  the  prohibition 
movement. 

A  large  percentage  of  all  intoxi- 
cating liquors  are  made  from  the 
syrup  which  comes  as  a  by-product 
in  the  manufacture  of  sugar;  and 
all  intoxicating  liquors,  whiskies, 
brandies,  wines,  beers,  and  ales  rep- 
resent only  a  chemical  re-arrange- 
ment of  sugar. 

When  the  drinker  stops  taking 
alcoholic  beverages,  or  even  cuts 
down  on  them,  he  must  and  does  use 
more  sugar  in  his  tea  or  coffee  and 
his  general  dietary. 

Although    prohibition    has    been 


Our      Sweet      Tooth 

definitely  and  steadily  growing  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  the  fact  has 
not  as  yet  been  reflected  in  the 
statistics  of  liquor  consumption; 
during  the  decade  1904-1914  the 
consumption  of  liquors  of  all  kinds 
increased  nearly  forty  per  cent.,  while 
the  population  increased  only  slightly 
over  twenty  per  cent. 

Nevertheless,  state-wide  prohibi- 
tion has  already  been  enacted  in 
eighteen  of  the  forty-eight  States 
while  local  option  prevails  in  sixteen, 
with  several  states  soon  to  vote  on 
the  question.  Moreover,  when  the 
Hobson  resolution,  to  submit  to  the 
States  the  prohibition  amendment 
to  the  Constitution,  was  laid  before 
the  House,  197  members  voted  for 
it,  169  against  it. 

So   we   see   that  the  prohibition 

wave  is  a  thing  of  fact,  not  of  fancy. 

Whether  or  not  it  will  effectively 

stop  the  consumption  of  liquor,  it 

[13] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

must,  if  only  by  reducing  it,  increase 

the  consumption  of  sugar. 
*        *        *        * 

We  see,  thus,  that  the  advance 
of  sugar  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the 
advance  of  intelligence  and  pros- 
perity; that  adversity  only  slightly 
checks  the  advance;  that  the  high 
cost  of  living  and  the  prohibition 
movement,  both  of  which  promise 
to  be  with  us  for  many  years  to 
come,  tend  to  increase  consumption. 

As  a  result  of  the  operation  of 
these  factors,  our  national  sweet 
tooth  has  been  growing  sweeter  and 
sweeter — not  only  ours,  but  that  of 
our  neighbors. 

And  the  sum  of  this  increase  in  the 
use  of  sugar  is  indelibly  written  in 
the  statistics  of  world  sugar  pro- 
duction, as  follows: 

In  1870  the  total  production  of 
cane  and  beet  sugar  in  the  whole 
world  was  2,750,000  tons. 
[14] 


Our      Sweet      Tooth 

In  1914  this  total  had  risen  to 
18,773,486  tons — a  jump,  in  a  single 
generation,  of  more  than  600  per 
cent. 

As  matters  stand  today  we  are 
digging  out  of  the  ground,  the  world 
over,  only  about  one-third  enough 
gold  to  pay  our  annual  billion-and-a- 
quarter  dollar  raw  sugar  bill. 

All  of  the  petroleum  produced  in 
the  world  in  a  year  equals  hardly 
more  than  one-quarter  the  value  of 
the  year's  raw  sugar  crop. 

All  of  the  ever  increasing  quan- 
tities of  tobacco  used  amount  in 
value  to  barely  a  third  of  what  we 
pay  for  our  raw  sugar. 

And  coffee,  too,  growing  apace 
with  tobacco,  would  have  to  multi- 
ply its  annual  crop  by  more  than 
four  in  order  to  be  abreast  of  sugar, 
while  rubber,  with  more  than  two 
million  motor  cars  consuming  it  at 
an  astounding  rate,  must  be  multi- 
[151 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

plied  by  almost  six  before  it  equals 
in  value  the  crystals  which  our 
canes  and  beets  are  producing  an- 
nually to  satisfy  our  sweet  tooth. 

The  world's  sugar  crop  is  bigger 
than  her  cotton  crop — much  bigger. 
It  is  exceeded,  in  fact,  only  by  the 
grain  crops  and  the  production  of 

live  stock. 

*        *        *        * 

If  the  demand  for  sugar  increases 
during  the  next  fifty  years  as  it  has 
during  the  past  fifteen,  we  must 
increase  our  facilities  for  producing 
it  to  at  least  seven  times  their  pre- 
sent capacity. 

But  if  the  demand  should  not 
increase  at  all,  if  sugar  should  come 
to  a  sudden  standstill,  the  import- 
ance of  this  crop  among  the  world's 
basic  productions  has,  during  the 
past  hundred  years,  been  established 
beyond  question  or  doubt. 

[16] 


II.     Sugar    Making — 

From  the  Soil  to 

the  Sack 

Those  of  us  who  have  known  the 
boyhood  joy  of  a  maple  sugar  camp 
in  full  swing,  may  think  that  the 
granulated  sugar  of  commerce  is 
made  by  the  same  process — boiling, 
boiling,  boiling,  and  draining. 

It  is  not.  It  is  not  even  made 
from  molasses  as  our  geographies 
used  to  state.  The  molasses  is,  in 
fact,  a  by-product  of  sugar  manu- 
facture— not,  as  many  suppose,  its 
starting  point. 

There  is  an  important  difference, 
in  fact,  between  syrup  and  molasses. 
The  former  is  the  juice  or  sap  of  a 
sugar  producing  plant,  boiled  and 
clarified,  and  containing  its  entire 
original  sugar  content;  the  latter  is 
the  residue  after  the  sugar  crystals 
have  been  extracted  from  the  syrup. 
[17] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

Before  going  into  the  details  of 
the  interesting  process  of  sugar  mak- 
ing itself,  it  may  be  said  that  all  of 
our  commercial  sugar  is  cane  sugar. 

No  matter  whether  it  comes  from 
the  juice  of  the  beet,  or  the  sap  of  the 
bamboo  or  maple,  or  from  cane 
itself,  chemically  and  technically  it 

is  known  as  cane  sugar. 

•        +.*..* 

There  are  two  classes  of  sugar  in 
nature — which,  avoiding  long  Latin 
names,  may  be  called  single  sugars 
and  double  sugars.  Cane  sugar, 
milk  sugar,  malt  sugar,  are  some  of 
the  double  sugars.  Grape  sugar  and 
fruit  sugar  are  common  single  sugars. 

If  we  take  a  double  sugar  and 
submit  it  either  to  heat,  acid  or 
ferment,  we  turn  it  into  single  or 
invert  sugar. 

The  double  sugars  are  of  no  use 
as  food  while  they  remain  double — 
they  cannot  be  assimilated  in  the 
1181 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

body  for  the  formation  of  organic 
tissue  or  the  production  of  heat  and 
energy.  Only  the  single  sugars  are 
available. 

But,  practically,  this  is  of  no  con- 
sequence since  the  acidity  of  our 
digestive  juices,  the  heat  of  our 
bodies  and  our  digestive  ferments 
combine  to  form  ideal  conditions  for 
inversion,  and  accomplish  this  chem- 
ical change  shortly  after  we  have 
eaten  the  double  sugar. 

Cane  sugar  has  two  and  one-half 
times  the  sweetening  power  of  fruit 
sugar  and  more  than  two  and  one- 
half  times  the  sweetening  power  of 
grape  sugar — which  is  one  of  the 
reasons  why  all  of  our  commercial 
sugar  is  cane  sugar  instead  of  the 

more  easily  assimilable  single  sugars. 
*        *        *        * 

There  are  countless  plants  in  nature 
which  may  be  made  to  yield  us  cane 
sugar.  All  fruits  contain  two  or 

[19] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

more  sugars,  of  which  cane  sugar, 
fruit  sugar  and  grape  sugar,  are  the 
most  important. 

For  centuries  sugar  has  been  man- 
ufactured from  different  species  of 
palms  by  the  natives  of  India.  The 
bamboo  is  a  sugar-producing  plant 
which  was  utilized  by  the  ancient 
peoples  of  Asia  and  is  supposed  to 
be  the  first  plant  from  which  sugar 
was  extracted.  Sugar  is  manu- 
factured from  raisins  in  practically 
all  the  countries  of  southern  Europe 
and  western  Asia.  Indian  corn  has 
been  used  experimentally  in  the 
manufacture  of  sugar,  while  Sorghum 
or  Chinese  cane,  with  a  high  sugar 
content,  yields  a  large  syrup  crop, 
but  for  chemical  and  manufacturing 
reasons  little  or  no  actual  sugar. 
The  saps  of  many  trees  besides  the 
maple  contain  sweets.  Sugar  and 
syrup  have  even  been  manufactured 
in  the  United  States  from  water- 
[201 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

melons — an  industry  which  was 
nipped  in  the  bud  by  the  intro- 
duction of  refrigerator  cars  and  cold 
storage,  which  made  a  wider  and 
more  profitable  market  for  the 
melons  themselves. 

But  for  practical  purposes  the 
commercial  sugar  of  the  world  can  be 
considered  as  coming  from  the  juice 
of  the  cane  or  the  beet.  The  con- 
sumption of  all  other  sugars  amounts 

to  but  a  small  fraction  of  a  per  cent. 
*         *         *         * 

Whether  our  sugar  is  to  be  pro- 
duced from  beets  or  cane,  the  first 
step  is  the  production  of  the  syrup — 
the  separation  of  the  sweet  watery 
content  of  the  plant  from  the  pulp 
or  woody  portions. 

In  the  case  of  cane,  the  operation 
is  simplicity  itself.  All  that  is  needed 
is  crushing. 

The  pioneer  methods  of  milling 
and  crushing  in  the  cane  growing 
[21] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

countries  of  the  world  were  crude 
almost  beyond  belief.  The  first 
crushers  consisted  of  wooden  rollers 
— two  adze-hewn  logs — usually  ver- 
tical, operated  by  hand-power. 
Twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  total 
juice  represented  all  that  could  be 
extracted  by  this  means. 

The  first  improvement — and  this 
came  not  so  many  years  ago — was 
the  substitution  of  vertical  cast-iron 
rollers,  which,  in  construction  and 
manipulation,  differed  little  from  the 
old  wooden  rollers,  but  added  an 
extra  fifteen  per  cent,  to  the  total 
of  the  juice  extraction.  The  next 
advance  was  marked  by  the  intro- 
duction of  steam-power,  which  per- 
mitted an  increase  in  the  size  of 
rollers;  and  finally  this  improve- 
ment was  followed  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  horizontal  instead  of  vertical 
rollers.  These  raised  the  efficiency 
of  extraction  to  sixty-five  per  cent. 
[221 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

Steel  rollers  are  now  used  almost 
exclusively  in  the  larger  mills  and 
the  number  of  rollers  has  increased 
from  one  pair  to  three  and  from  three 
to  nine.  Many  of  the  mills  have 
shredders  or  corrugated  crushers, 
through  which  the  cane  is  passed 
before  conveying  to  the  smooth 
rollers.  Cane  prepared  in  this  way 
yields  from  eighty  to  ninety  per  cent, 
of  its  total  juice,  while  still  higher 
percentages  are  secured  by  saturating 
the  bagasse,  as  the  crushed  cane  is 
called,  with  water  and  passing  it 
through  the  mill  several  times. 

The  process,  despite  this  lengthy 
description,  is  simplicity  itself.  All 
that  is  required  is  to  extract  the 
juice  from  the  cane  by  crushing — 
and  with  the  present  advance  of 
engineering  and  invention  in  this 
line,  the  day  is  in  sight  when  prac- 
tically all  of  the  available  juice  can 
be  separated  and  saved. 
[23] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

In  the  case  of  beet  sugar,  the 
process  is  more  difficult  and  expen- 
sive. First  the  beets  must  be  thor- 
oughly washed  to  cleanse  them  of 
the  quantities  of  field  earth  which 
adhere  to  them.  In  the  early  days 
of  the  beet  sugar  industry  it  was  the 
custom  after  washing  to  pulp  the 
beets  and  effect  the  extraction  of  the 
juice  by  pressing,  much  as  cane  is 
pressed.  But  this  method  is  so 
wasteful  and  so  inefficient,  because 
of  the  structure  of  the  beet,  that  it 
has  been  abandoned  and  a  diffusion 
process  substituted. 

The  first  operation  in  the  diffusion 
process  is  to  slice  the  beets  into  the 
thinnest  possible  individual  pieces. 
This  is  done  by  a  machine  which 
cuts  the  beets  with  a  multitude  of 
curved  knife  blades,  revolving  rap- 
idly. When  the  beets  are  cut  into 
thin,  irregular  slices  on  this  machine, 
they  are  placed,  in  water,  in  the  first 
[24] 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

of  a  set  of  cylindrical  vessels  called 
a  diffusion  battery.  These  vessels 
communicate  with  each  other  by 
pipes  so  arranged  that  the  juice 
issuing  from  the  bottom  of  one  dif- 
fuser  flows  into  the  top  of  the  next. 
By  this  means  the  sugar  content 
is  dissolved  and  the  sweet,  viscous 
liquid  or  syrup  which  is  the  starting 
point  of  both  beet  and  cane  sugar  is 

secured. 

*         *         *         * 

This  viscous  liquid  as  it  comes 
from  the  mill,  whether  from  cane  or 
from  beets,  is  subject  to  almost 
immediate  fermentation,  since  it 
forms  an  ideal  culture  for  the  prop- 
agation of  germs.  If  allowed  to 
stand,  it  will  quickly  sour  and 
invert  into  single  sugar. 

It  is  a  curious  point  about  the 

sugars,  well  worth  noting  here,  that 

in   weak   solutions   they  are  easily 

fermented,    while    in    concentrated 

[251 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

solutions  they  are  able  to  preserve 
themselves  from  the  attacking  germs. 
The  grape,  for  example,  soon  decays 
after  it  is  taken  from  the  vine.  But 
,  if  its  sugar  is  concentrated,  as  in  the 
raisin,  it  will  keep  indefinitely.  The 
same  is  true  of  our  other  table 
fruits.  Fresh  fruits  soon  spoil;  those 
which  we  protect  by  concentrating 
their  sweets  we  call  preserves,  and 
these  we  can  easily  carry  over  one 
or  more  winters. 

The  susceptibility  of  freshly  milled 
syrup  to  fermentation  calls  for  im- 
mediate   attention;     if    left    a    few 
hours   it   may   sour.      So   the   first 
'  operation  is  to  boil  it.    At  this  stage 
^  it  is  a  turbid,  dark-colored  liquid, 
full  of  woody  and  gummy  constit- 
uents, wholly  unfit  to  be  worked  up 
into  sugar  without  clarification. 

Protection    against    micro-organ- 
isms,   as    stated,    is    accomplished 
simply    enough    by    boiling.      The 
[26] 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

boiling  kills  the  germs  which  are 
present,  the  evaporation  concen- 
trates  the  sugar  solution  and  pre- 
vents further  invasion,  and  the  heat 
coagulates  the  albuminous  constitu 
ents  of  the  syrup,  forming  a  froth, 
which,  when  removed,  has  accom- 
plished much  in  the  process  of  clar- 
ification. 

Besides  heat,  which  coagulates 
the  albumen,  another  agent  which 
has  been  used  for  clarification  from 
the  earliest  times  is  lime.  This  pre- 
cipitates the  gummy  matters  which 
form  into  a  muddy  sediment  at  the 
bottom  and  into  a  top  layer  of  froth 
between  which  the  bulk  of  the  juice 
is  clear  and  limpid. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  first  step 
after  the  juice  leaves  the  mill  is  to 
boil  it  and  to  add  a  measured  quan- 
tity of  milk  of  lime,  or  in  plainer 
English,  whitewash.  This  white- 
wash, much  as  we  should  dislike  to 
[27] 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

drink  it,  has  no  effect  whatever  on 
the  sugar.  It  attacks  only  the 
impurities,  both  dissolved  and  sus- 
pended, but  does  not  combine  with 
or  alter  the  sucrose  itself. 

When  the  syrup  has  been  clarified 
by  boiling  and  liming,  it  may  be  said 
to  consist  of  two  elements — sugar 
and  molasses.  The  sugar  is  repre- 
sented by  that  portion  which  can 
be  crystallized  out,  the  molasses  be- 
ing the  residuum. 

The  sugar  crystals  are  now  sepa- 
rated from  the  molasses  by  whirling 
it  rapidly  in  a  machine  called  a 
centrifugal.  This  machine  consists 
essentially  of  a  perforated  basket, 
revolving  inside  an  iron  casing.  The 
basket  is  lined  with  finely  perforated 
sheet  bronze  or  with  woven  wire 
cloth  and  may  measure  from  four- 
teen to  twenty-four  inches  in  depth 
and  from  thirty  to  forty  inches  in 
diameter.  Revolving  at  a  speed  of 
[28] 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

from  1,000  to  1,400  revolutions 
per  minute,  the  molasses  is  forced 
out  through  the  fine  openings,  caught 
in  the  iron  casing  and  carried  off  in 
a  conduit,  while  the  sugar  crystals 
themselves  are  retained  in  the  basket. 
The  basket  is  spun  until  the  sugar  is 
practically  free  of  molasses;  such 
sugar  is  then  known  as  raw,  or 
centrifugal,  sugar.  It  is  definitely 
crystalline  in  character,  but  still 
moist  and  lumpy.  Its  color,  due 
to  the  impurities  it  still  contains, 
varies  from  a  light  tan  to  a  dark 

brown. 

*         *         *         * 

The  molasses  which  has  been 
carried  off  in  a  conduit  is  now  boiled 
again,  replaced  in  the  centrifugal  for 
the  extraction  of  still  more  crystals, 
which  are  kept  separate  and  called 
"molasses  sugar."  When  this  pro- 
cess has  been  carried  to  its  profitable 
limit,  the  final  molasses  is  sold  for 


Cuban     Cane    Sugar 

the  manufacture  of  rum,  whiskey, 
or  other  spirituous  liquors,  or  for  the 
manufacture  of  alcohol.  There  are 
many  other  markets  for  molasses, 
including  the  manufacture  of  stock 
foods,  its  use  as  a  fertilizer,  etc.,  but 
its  conversion  into  alcohol  and  spirits 

represents  its  chief  use. 

*         *         *         * 

The  raw  sugar  from  the  centrif- 
ugals is  still  unfit  for  use,  and  must 
now  be  refined;  in  refining,  it  is 
first  dissolved  in  hot  water,  the 
liquor  thus  formed  being  filtered 

-  through  cotton  bags  to  remove  all 
insoluble  impurities.    It  is  next  run 
into    iron    cylinders    packed    with 
charred  bones,  bone  charcoal  having 
a   peculiar   affinity   for  the  soluble 

'  impurities  and  leaving  the  sugar, 
after  filtration,  in  a  purified  and 
decolored  condition.  This  purified, 
colorless,  liquid  sugar  is  now  boiled 

•  in  vacuum  pans,  refilled  as  evapora- 

[30] 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

tion  sets  in,  until  the  crystals  have 
begun  to  re-form,  when  the  mass  is 
again  spun  in  centrifugals  which 
separate  the  crystals  from  the  liquor 
as  before.  These  crystals,  after 
drying  in  horizontal  cylinders,  are 
turned  out  as  the  granulated  sugar 
of  commerce. 

If  soft  white  sugar  is  desired,  the 
process  is  stopped  after  passing 
through  the  centrifugals.  The  granu- 
lated grades  are  obtained  by  control- 
ling the  crystallization  in  a  granu- 
lator  and  by  sieve  grading. 

Loaf  sugar  is  made  by  running  the 
mass  from  the  vacuum  pans  into 
molds,  where  it  drains;  and  then 
placing  the  molds  in  ovens  to  be 
solidified.  Pressed  cubes  are  made 
from  moistened  granulated  sugar. 

The  liquor  taken  from  the  centrif- 
ugal machines  is  reboiled  and  yields 
the  soft  or  brown  sugars,  and  the 
final  residue  is  sold  as  molasses. 
[311 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

In  technical  and  trade  descrip- 
tions of  sugars  we  often  find  the 
expression  "96°  centrifugal."  The 
"centrifugal,"  we  now  understand, 
refers  to  the  process  by  which  the 
sugar  was  made — that  is,  as  against 
boiling,  evaporating  and  draining, 
as  is  done  in  the  case  of  maple  sugar 
and  as  was  formerly  the  practice 
before  the  days  of  improved  ma- 
chinery in  cane  sugar. 

The  "96°"  refers  to  the  quality 
of  the  sugar  and  brings  up  the 
curious  method  in  vogue  for  deter- 
mining sugar  quality. 

Sugar  is  not,  as  might  be  sup- 
posed, tested  by  taste  for  its'  sweet- 
ness or  by  any  of  the  chemical  means 
which  might  be  suggested,  but  is 
judged  by  the  way  in  which  it  re- 
fracts light. 

We  know  that  when  we  poke  a 
stick  into  a  pond  the  part  of  the  stick 
below  water  seems  bent  and  fore- 
[32] 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

shortened;  and  that  when  we  pass 
light  through  glass  at  an  angle  its 
direction  is  changed. 

Similarly,  sugar  in  solution  has 
the  property  of  bending  the  rays  of 
light  which  it  refracts;  different 
sugars  have  different  refractive  prop- 
erties; and  in  actual  practice  sugar, 
instead  of  being  tasted  or  analyzed, 
is  examined  by  an  instrument  called 
the  polariscope,  designed  to  measure 
the  character  of  this  refraction. 

Fruit  sugar  bends  the  ray  of  light 
to  the  left.  Its  technical  name  is 
Levulose,  and  is,  in  fact,  called  a  left- 
hand  sugar;  cane  sugar  (sucrose), 
and  grape  sugar  (dextrose),  bend  the 
ray  of  light  to  the  right,  and  are 
known  as  right-hand  sugars. 

The  polariscope  readings  of  some 
different  commercial  sugars  are: 
Black  Strap  71°,  Cuban  Molasses 
Sugar  77°,  Cuban  1st  Sugar  96°, 
and  Java  White  Sugar  99.6°. 
[33] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

We  have  before  us,  now,  a  general 
survey  of  the  methods  by  which  our 
sugar  crop  is  commercialized.  There 
are  many  by-processes  not  necessary 
to  describe  here — many  ingenious 
short  cuts — and  many  efficient  means 
of  utilizing  the  sugars  in  waste 
products  of  manufacture,  but  the 
process  as  a  whole  follows  the  lines 
described  here. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  essentials  of 
sugar  making  are: 

1.  A  plant  such  as  cane  or  the 
sugar  beet,  which  yields  sugar 
economically    in    crystallizable 
form. 

2.  A    means    for    separating    the 
juice  from  the  woody  and  other 
constituents  of  the  plant. 

3.  A  means  for  clarifying,  purify- 
ing, and  making  germ-proof  this 
juice  or  syrup. 

4.  An    apparatus    for    separating 
the   molasses   from   the   sugar 

[341 


From    Soil    to    Sack 

crystals  —  a    centrifugal    ma- 
chine. 

5.  A  means  for  washing  and  filter- 
ing the  raw  sugar  thus  pro- 
duced and  of  reducing  it  to  the 
clean,  pure,  white  crystals  of 
commerce. 

In  the  manufacture  of  beet  sugar, 
these  operations  are  frequently  car- 
ried on  under  one  roof;  the  beet 
sugar  factory  may  well  be  a  com- 
plete institution,  buying  its  beets 
from  the  neighboring  farmers  (often 
furnishing  them  the  seed  and  super- 
vising their  crops),  and  turning  out 
a  complete  commercial  sugar. 

This  arrangement  is  possible,  in 
the  case  of  beet  sugar,  because  sugar 
beets  can  be  grown  in  climates  and 
localities  suitable  for  manufacturing. 
In  the  case  of  cane  sugar,  however, 
the  process  is  split  in  two.     Cane  is 
a  product  of  the  tropics  and  semi- 
tropics  where  sugar  refining  could  be 
[35] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

carried  on,  for  several  reasons,  to 
poor  advantage.  The  cane  planter, 
therefore,  converts  his  crop  of  cane 
immediately  into  raw  sugar  on  his 
own  premises,  or  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  this  raw  sugar  is  sent  to 
refiners  in  the  country  of  consump- 
tion, where  the  after-processes  are 

carried  out. 

*        •        *        * 

The  making  of  sugar,  from  the  soil 
to  the  sack,  is  a  simple  process,  and 
an  interesting  one;  considering  that 
it  has  only  lately  been  rescued  from 
the  primitive,  considering  the  ad- 
vancements already  wrought,  and 
considering  its  ever  increasing  im- 
portance among  the  world's  produc- 
tions, one  can  but  wonder  what  new 
efficiencies  and  what  further  econo- 
mies inventive  genius  holds  in  store 
for  it. 


36 


III.  Cane  vs.  Beet- -The 
Struggle  for  Supremacy 

We  owe  the  discovery  of  cane  sugar 
to  the  Bengalese  in  India;  as  long 
ago  as  the  third  or  fourth  century 
A.  D.,  travelers  from  India  brought 
back  news  of  "Indian  salt."  From 
the  fifth  century,  we  can  trace  its 
spread  into  Arabia,  Egypt,  Spain, 
Portugal,  the  Canary  Islands,  Brazil, 
Cuba,  and  so  on  around  the  world. 

But  the  making  of  sugar  out  of 
beets  we  owe  distinctly  to  Napoleon 
Bonaparte.  It  is  just  110  years 
since  Napoleon  gave  the  beet  its 
impetus,  and  the  circumstances  were 
these : 

In  1804-5  the  business  affairs  of 
Europe  were  in  much  the  same 
tangle  as  they  are  in  the  war  times  of 
today. 

Napoleon  was  successful  in  bat- 
[37] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

tering  down  the  continental  fron- 
tiers and  in  increasing  his  possessions 
amazingly — but  he  met  failure  in 
his  principal  task — that  of  humilia- 
ting his  chief  enemy,  Great  Britain; 
and,  in  1805,  he  was  forced  to  give 
up  his  intention  of  attacking  that 
country  when  Nelson  destroyed  the 
French  fleet  off  Trafalgar,  conse- 
quently preventing  the  landing  of 
the  French  in  England. 

When,  in  the  end,  Great  Britain 
established  herself  as  mistress  of  the 
seas,  and  succeeded  in  opening  trade 
relations  with  the  continent,  in  spite 
of  Napoleon's  strenuous  efforts  to 
forbid  them,  the  French  Emperor 
devised  what  was  known  as  the 
"Continental  System"  which  dealt 
a  disastrous  blow  to  the  cane  sugar 
industry. 

Seeing  that  the  struggle  was  not 
to  be  brought  to  an  end  by  fighting, 
Napoleon  tried  to  isolate  his  enemy 


Cane     vs.     Beet 

by  forbidding  commercial  communi- 
cation between  England  and  the 
entire  continent  of  Europe. 

When  this  decree  was  issued  and 
all  British  and  Colonial  goods  were 
confiscated,  England  sought  reprisal 
by  prohibiting  ships  of  any  nation- 
ality from  approaching  French  har- 
bors on  the  penalty  of  confiscation; 
whereupon  Napoleon,  in  turn,  de- 
creed that  any  ship  which  had  either 
submitted  to  English  examination  or 
had  paid  dues  in  English  harbors  be 
confiscated. 

With  both  sides  engineering  bitter 
blockades,  shipping  came  to  a  stand- 
still and  sugar  prices  on  the  conti- 
nent went  up,  and  up,  and  up  to 
prohibitive  figures. 

Meanwhile,  the  lack  of  sugar  be- 
came an  important  war-time  problem 
which  demanded  immediate  and  vig- 
orous action.  Napoleon  set  about, 
at  once,  to  find  substitutes  for  cane 
[39] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

sugar  which  might  be  grown  in 
France.  In  his  search  he  learned 
that  sugar  could  be  produced  from 
grapes  and  from  beetroots,  but  he 
did  not  confine  himself  to  these, 
experimenting  meanwhile  with  ap- 
ples, pears,  plums,  quinces,  mul- 
berries, chestnuts,  figs,  sorghum, 
field  corn,  and  the  saps  of  several 
trees. 

Nearly  sixty  years  previously, 
Marggraf ,  in  Berlin,  had  shown  that 
various  kinds  of  beetroot  contained 
sugar  which  could  successfully  be 
crystallized  out.  Forty  years  later 
Achard,  a  Frenchman,  experimented 
with  different  varieties  of  beetroot; 
and,  when  his  results  became  known, 
Frederick  Wilhelm  III,  King  of 
Prussia,  started  experimentation  on 
a  large  scale  and  contributed  to- 
ward the  erection  of  several  sugar 
factories,  at  the  same  time  offering 
bounties  to  farmers  who  produced 
[40] 


Cane     vs.     Beet 

more  than  twenty  tons  of  beetroot 
a  year. 

After  a  number  of  costly  experi- 
ments had  been  directed  toward  the 
production  of  grape  sugar,  with  poor 
results,  Napoleon,  in  1811,  ordered 
32,000  hectares— about  75,000  acres 
— to  be  planted  with  beetroot — dis- 
tributed over  the  several  provinces — 
and  established  four  schools  in  which 
sugar  manufacture  was  to  be  taught. 
In  the  meantime,  he  stifled  whatever 
little  competition  cane  sugar  might 
still  be  offering,  by  forbidding  all 
further  importation  from  the  East 
and  West  Indies.  In  1812  the  num- 
ber of  sugar  schools  was  increased 
and  100,000  hectares— 247,100  acres 
— were  planted  and  by  that  time 
334  factories  were  in  operation. 

The  news  of  the  new  sugar  indus- 
try soon  spread  and  Austria  and 
Germany  vied  with  France  in  their 
efforts  to  produce  the  crystals  from 
[411 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

beets.  In  1814  when  Napoleon  had 
to  abdicate,  his  "Continental  Sys- 
tem" was  abolished,  and  imported 
sugar  was  again  admitted  on  the 
continent.  This  proved  but  a  tem- 
porary set-back  to  the  new  industry, 
however,  so  rapid  had  been  its  rise 
and  so  great  the  enthusiasm  which 
attended  the  discovery.  By  1830 
the  beet  sugar  industry  was  in  full 

swing  once  more. 

*        *        *        * 

Cane,  having  always  been  con- 
sidered the  natural  source  from  which 
to  expect  sugar,  received  little  atten- 
tion or  promotion.  While  the  best 
minds  of  Europe  were  studying  the 
beet,  improving  the  varieties,  in- 
venting new  and  more  efficient  means 
of  extraction,  and  generally  giving 
the  subject  serious  consideration, 
cane  sugar  continued  to  be  produced 
in  the  most  primitive  way. 

It  was  not,  in  fact,  until  the  early 
[42] 


Cane     vs.     Be  e  t 

'80s  that  the  cane  planter  woke  up 
from  his  long  sleep. 

The  typical  owner  of  a  sugar  plan- 
tation lived  in  tropical  style,  well  up 
to  his  income  and  invested  the  least 
possible  money  in  improvements. 
He  was  prone  to  spend  all  he  made 
without  thinking  of  creating  a  re- 
serve fund,  and  consequently,  when 
the  beet — all  things  considered,  a 
much  inferior  plant  to  the  cane  for 
the  purpose — began,  by  sheer  dint  of 
scientific  handling,  to  encroach  upon 
the  cane,  he  was  absolutely  unpre- 
pared for  the  struggle  for  existence 
which  lay  before  him.  This  condi- 
tion, however,  did  not  continue  long, 
and  in  the  early  '80s,  capital,  in 
moderate  amounts,  began  to  be 
available  to  sugar  planters,  and  cane 
sugar  manufacture  began  to  shake 
off  its  primitive  shackles. 

In  1870  the  production  of  cane 
sugar  was  almost  double  that  of  beet 
[43] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 


sugar.  By  1880  beet  sugar  had 
climbed  up  to  a  point  of  approxi- 
mate equality,  and  then,  as  stated, 
the  struggle  began. 

The  story  of  the  race  is  indelibly 
written  in  the  figures  of  World's 
sugar  production,  (Mulhall  and  Wil- 
lett  &  Gray),  which  are  quoted  here: 


Years 

Cane 

Beet 

Total 

1870 

1,850,000 

900,000 

2,750,000 

1880 

1,860,000 

1,810,000 

3,670,000 

1890 

2,580,000 

2,780,000 

5,360,000 

1898 

2,850,000 

4,650,000 

7,500,000 

1900 

3,056,294 

5,590,992 

8,647,286 

1902 

4,079,742 

6,913,504 

10,993,346 

1903 

4,163,941 

5,756,720 

9,920,661 

1904 

4,234,203 

6,089,468 

10,323,631 

1905 

4,594,782 

4,918,480 

9,513,262 

1906 

6,731,165 

J,216,060 

13,947,225 

1907 

7,329,317 

7,143,818 

14,473,135 

1908 

6,917,663 

7,002,474 

13,920,137 

1909 

7,625,639 

6,927,875 

14,553,514 

1910 

8,327,069 

6,597,506 

14,914,575 

1911 

8,422,447 

8,560,346 

16,982,793 

1912 

9,006,030 

6,820,266 

15,886,296 

1913 

9,232,543 

8,976,271 

18,208,814 

1914 

9,865,016 

8,908,470 

18,773,486 

44] 


Cane     vs.     Beet 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  race,  as 
thrilling  a  one  as  was  ever  run  in 
the  sport  of  Kings — started  neck  and 
neck;  beet  with  its  impetus  was  go- 
ing strong  in  the  '90s,  a  length  and 
a  half  ahead;  by  the  middle  of  the 
nineteen-hundreds  cane  had  regained 
her  wind  and  closed  her  decade  in 
the  lead;  since  then  beet  has  not 
been  alongside;  and  if  the  final  fig- 
ures for  1915-16  were  known,  her 
percentage  showing,  partially  be- 
cause of  the  curtailment  of  beet- 
growing  in  Germany,  Austria,  France, 
and  Russia,  would  quite  likely  be 
the  poorest  in  forty  years.  The  esti- 
mates of  Willett  &  Gray  and  F.  O. 
Licht  are: 

World's  1915-16  Sugar  Crop: 
Cane  Beet 

10,333,000  tons  6,306,102  tons 

Let  us  look  into  the  facts,  then, 
observing  the  fundamentals  under- 
lying the  struggle  and  see  if  we  can 
forecast  the  outcome. 

[45] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

Let  it  be  stated  at  the  outset  that 
there  is  no  difference  between  beet 
sugar  and  cane  sugar  when  refined. 
In  their  chemical  composition,  in 
their  quality  and  taste,  and  in  their 
commercial  value,  they  are  identical. 
The  only  question  is  which  can  pro- 
duce a  pound  of  crystallized  sugar, 
delivered  to  the  consumer,  at  the 
least  cost. 

The  climatic  conditions  required 
for  the  profitable  production  of  sugar 
beets  are  entirely  different  from 
those  required  for  the  production  of 
sugar  cane. 

Sugar  cane  started  in  the  tropics 
and  has  never  been  coaxed  very  far 
from  its  native  zone.  It  needs  a  nine 
months'  growing  season  of  hot  days 
and  nights,  and  it  will  not  stand 
severe  winters.  It  requires  both 
moisture  and  sunshine,  and  unless 
irrigation  is  resorted  to,  needs  an 
annual  rainfall  of  from  fifty  to 
[46] 


Cane     vs.     Beet 

sixty-five  inches.  Given  favorable 
growing  conditions,  such  as  the 
cleared  jungle  of  Cuba  or  Java,  it  re- 
quires a  minimum  of  labor. 

Sugar  beets,  on  the  other  hand, 
constitute  a  typical  temperate  zone 
crop.  They  require  rich  soil,  and 
especially  good  drainage  conditions. 
If  there  is  not  abundant  rainfall,  the 
beets  must  be  irrigated.  Unless  the 
soil  is  very  rich  in  natural  fertilizing 
ingredients,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
apply  commercial  fertilizer  gener- 
ously. The  beet  is  a  crop  which  re- 
quires constant  cultivation  during 
the  early  part  of  the  growing  season 
and  is  subject  to  a  number  of  ene- 
mies and  diseases.  It  has  been  noted 
that  as  the  beet  crop  has  increased, 
its  enemies  have  become  more  wide- 
spread and  destructive  each  year. 

We  see,  thus,  that  the  beet  requires 
land  which  is  worth  from  forty  to 
two-hundred  dollars  per  acre  for 
[47] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

other  purposes,  whereas,  cane  flour- 
ishes best  in  the  tropics  with  land, 
which,  assuming  that  the  Mahogany 
and  Cedar  pays  the  cost  of  clearing, 
costs  from  six  to  fifteen  dollars  per 
acre  and  is  good  for  little  else. 

The  beet  requires  expensive  irri- 
gation, cultivation  and  care,  involv- 
ing high  priced  temperate  zone  labor; 
whereas  the  cane,  in  equally  suitable 
surroundings  requires  no  irrigation 
and  little  or  no  cultivation — only 
harvesting  by  cheap  tropical  help  at 

a  few  cents  a  week. 

*        *        *        * 

To  put  the  comparison  in  money, 
it  may  be  stated  that  the  average  pro- 
ducer of  beets  in  the  United  States 
realizes  an  annual  profit  of  from  fif- 
teen to  forty  dollars  per  acre,  with 
land  costing  from  forty  to  two  hun- 
dred dollars  as  his  investment;  while 
the  average  producer  of  Cuba  real- 
izes an  annual  profit  of  from  thirty 
[481 


Cane     vs.     Beet 

to  eighty  dollars  per  acre  from  land 
costing  six  to  fifteen  dollars  per  acre. 

Looking  at  the  situation  in  this 
light,  it  would  seem  strange  that 
beet  should  have  made  the  advance 
it  has.  But  there  is  another  reason 
for  this;  the  stronghold  of  the  beet 
is  in  Germany,  Austria,  France,  Hol- 
land, and  other  nations  of  Central 
Europe.  These  nations  have  a  four- 
fold reason  for  growing  the  beet; 
first,  they  are  far  removed  from  the 
jungles  where  cane  sugar  best  grows; 
second,  they  have  the  added  incen- 
tive of  a  hundred  years  of  develop- 
ment, improvement  and  investment 
in  the  beet;  third,  their  labor  costs 
are  low;  fourth,  there  are  no  "big- 
money"  crops  competing  with  sugar- 
cane for  the  land. 

As  to  labor,  it  will  be  readily  un- 
derstood, that  this  is  a  most  im- 
portant item  of  expense  in  beet  sugar 
production. 

[49] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

Where  we,  in  the  United  States, 
pay  one  dollar  to  a  dollar-and-a-half 
a  day  for  field  labor,  the  average  cost 
in  Germany  and  France  is  from  fifty 
to  seventy  cents  per  day;  while  in 
Austria  farm  and  unskilled  factory 
laborers  receive  only  fifteen  to  thirty 
cents  per  day. 

If  we  add  to  these  facts  the  further 
fact  that,  because  of  duties,  taxes, 
bounties,  and  transportation,  the  re- 
tail price  of  cane  sugar  in  Central 
Europe  is  much  higher  than  in 
America,  we  will  see  the  real  under- 
lying cause  of  the  rise  of  beet. 

As  to  "big-money"  crops  which 
wrest  the  land  away  from  the  beet, 
this  is  a  condition  met  generally  in 
the  United  States. 

Whether  or  not  the  production  of 
beet  sugar  in  any  given  section  can 
be  made  a  permanent  success  has 
been  shown  to  depend  largely  upon 
whether  or  not  that  section  is  adapt- 
[50] 


Cane     vs.     Be  e  t 

ed  to  crops  yielding  a  greater  return. 
For  example,  land  which  could  for- 
merly be  bought  in  Idaho  for  $75.00 
to  $100.00  per  acre  as  beet  land  has 
now  risen  in  price  from  $150.00  to 
$300.00  per  acre  because  of  its  adapt- 
ability to  fruit  growing. 

In    Idaho,    Colorado,    and    other 
states  the  beet  crop,  thus,  is  rapidly     , 
being  supplanted  by  fruits  and  vege- 
tables with  which  the  beet  cannot  be 

expected  to  compete  in  earning  power. 
*        *        *        « 

There  are  many  other  causes  which 
underlie  the  recession  of  the  beet  and 
from  which  its  further  decline  may 
be  forecast. 

Among  these  is  the  fact  that  the 
milling  season  is  an  extremely  short 
one,  and  because  of  this  beet  sugar 
factories  in  many  states  import  raw 
cane  sugar  to  carry  their  production 
period  over  into  what  would  other- 
wise be  idle  seasons.  In  almost  every 
[51] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

case  where  this  has  been  tried  the 
raw  cane  sugar  has  proven  a  better 
profit  earner  for  the  mill  than  the 

beets  which  lay  close  at  hand. 
*         *         *         * 

Summing  up,  we  see  that  beet 
stole  a  lead  on  cane  because  beet  had 
the  best  minds  of  Europe  improving 
it  while  cane  suffered  from  tropical 
sloth.  Beet  is  at  the  maximum  of  its 
efficiency,  while  cane  has  just  begun 
to  take  its  first  steps. 

The  same  inventive  genius  is  now 
being  applied  to  the  improvement  of 
cane  and  when  this  improvement 
reaches  its  maximum,  as  it  will  dur- 
ing the  next  few  decades,  it  may  con- 
fidently, be  expected  that  beet  will 
take  but  a  minor  part  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  world's  sugar. 


[52] 


LJ 
* 

5    ?°«S    § 

iu  ^  3E  <  to  D  10 
z  uj  s  m  it  o  H 

<  (t  O  D  <  «t  t 
0  <  0  0  0  <  Q. 


IV.    Cuba-  -The   Sugar 
Bowl  of  the  World 

If  our  sugar  crop  is  to  be  multi- 
plied by  seven  as  prospective  needs 
seem  to  require,  we  must,  in  a  survey 
such  as  this,  see  where  the  increase 
is  to  come  from;  and,  assuming  that 
beet,  under  the  double  stress  of  ever 
increasing  competition  from  better- 
paying  temperate-zone  crops  and 
improvement  in  the  production  of 
cane,  is  to  be  less  and  less  in  evi- 
dence, we  must  see  where  cane,  par- 
ticularly, can  be  extended. 

After  fourteen  centuries  of  experi- 
ment with  cane,  two  spots  have 
established  themselves  as  pre-emi- 
nently suited  to  its  culture — two 
spots  have  been  found  where  soil, 
temperature,  rainfall,  and  all  of  the 
other  necessary  elements  seem  to 
[53] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

have  conspired  together  to  create 
ideal  conditions  for  cane. 

These  spots,  both  islands,  one  in 
the  West  Indies,  one  in  the  East, 
are  Cuba  and  Java. 

Cane  is  raised  successfully  in  India, 
in  Australia,  in  South  America,  in 
South  Africa,  in  Formosa,  in  the 
Philippines,  in  Hawaii,  in  the  gulf 
section  of  the  United  States,  in 
Mexico,  in  Porto  Rico,  and  other 
islands  of  the  West  Indies. 

But  of  all  these  localities,  Cuba 
and  Java  seem,  by  nature,  best  fitted 

for  the  production  of  this  crop. 
*         *         *         * 

Cuba  and  Java  are  both  long,  nar- 
row islands  of  about  the  same  area, 
one  lying  about  as  far  north  of  the 
equator  as  the  other  lies  south;  both 
have  about  the  same  amount  of  heat, 
moisture  and  wind;  but  in  the  ex- 
treme fertility  of  its  soil  Cuba  shows 
a  marked  superiority  over  Java. 
[541 


World's  Sugar  Bowl 

In  our  minds,  quite  likely,  we  pic- 
ture these  islands  as  being  smaller 
than  they  really  are. 

Cuba,  for  example,  if  laid  down 
on  the  United  States  with  its  eastern 
end  at  New  York  City,  would  extend 
almost  to  Cincinnati.  It  varies  in 
width  from  twenty-two  to  160  miles. 
Its  area  is  almost  the  same  as  that 
of  England;  or  to  bring  the  com- 
parison nearer  home,  Cuba  is  larger 
than  Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  or  Ohio 
— not  quite  so  large  as  New  York, 
Illinois,  or  Wisconsin.  It  is  con- 
siderably larger  than  the  combined 
areas  of  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island, 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and 
Vermont. 

In  population  it  is  about  the  same 
as  California,  Indiana,  Iowa,  or  Wis- 
consin. 

*         *         *         * 

A  glance  at  the  figures  showing 
Cuba's   present   importance   in   the 
[55] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

production  of  cane  sugar  may  be  of 
interest. 

Country  Short  Tons 

Cuba  3,000,000 
British  India  (consumed  locally)  2,400,000 

Java  1,264,000 

Hawaii  585,000 

Porto  Rico  350,000 

Philippines  300,000 

Peru  200,000 

Brazil  194,000 

Argentina  175,000 

State  of  Louisiana  150,000 

State  of  Texas  1,000 

The  secret  of  Cuba's  superiority 
lies  in  both  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  her  soil. 

With  a  depth,  in  some  places,  of 
as  much  as  thirty  feet  of  soil,  the 
richness  is  such  that  cane,  with  a 
single  planting,  will  bear  its  annual 
crop  for  from  seven  to  ten  years; 
while  in  the  two  next  important  cane 
countries — Java  and  British  India — 
replanting  is  done  every  year. 

In  Cuba,  too,  the  seasons  are  ideal 
for  the  economical  production  both 
[56] 


World's  Sugar  Bowl 

of  cane  and  of  raw  sugar.  The  warm- 
est months  are  from  May  to  October, 
and  these  are  the  rainy  months.  The 
distribution  of  the  rain  during  this 
hot  spell  is  such  that  a  much  smaller 
quantity  of  water  is  required  than 
would  be  the  case  in  other  regions 
where  the  rainfall  is  less  evenly 
distributed. 

When  the  six  months'  rainfall  is 
at  an  end,  and  the  cane  is  ready  to 
harvest,  a  six  months'  dry  period  sets 
in;  and  with  the  resultant  dry  fields 
and  dry  roads,  the  operations  of 
harvesting  and  grinding  are  accom- 
plished under  the  most  favorable  con- 
ditions. 

When  the  Cuban  grinding  season — 
December  1st  to  May  Ist-^is  fin- 
ished, the  fields  are  green  again  and 
the  cane  is  well  on  its  way  toward 
the  next  season's  crop. 

There  are,  in  fact,  cases  on  record 
of  fields  which  still  yield  satisfactory 
[57] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

crops,  season  after  season,  without 
fresh  planting,  after  having  been  cut 
uninterruptedly  for  thirty  years. 

In  Hawaii,  on  the  other  hand,  long 
famous  for  its  sugar  production,  the 
cane  not  only  must  be  planted  for 
every  second  or  third  crop,  but 
eighteen  months  of  continuous,  in- 
tensive cultivation  is  required  to 

bring  a  crop  to  maturity. 
*         *         *         * 

The  history  of  cane  sugar  in  Cuba 
reads  like  a  romance. 

About  twenty  years  elapsed  after 
the  discovery  of  Cuba,  by  Chris- 
topher Columbus,  in  1492,  before 
sugar  cane  was  sent  by  Spain  to 
Cuba  for  planting.  The  experiment 
showed  the  Spaniards  the  perfect 
suitability  of  Cuba's  fertile  soil  for 
cane's  growth  and  development;  but 
the  Spanish  government  of  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries 
was  gold-mad  and  discouraged  agri- 
[58] 


World's  Sugar  Bowl 

cultural  productions  of  all  kinds  in 
favor  of  mining.  Indeed,  after  a  very 
few  years,  the  cultivation  of  sugar 
cane  in  Cuba  was  forbidden,  and 
even  after  that  prohibition  was  with- 
drawn, cane  was  permitted  to  be 
grown  only  under  governmental 
monopolies  and  privileges  which  had 
such  a  restrictive  influence  that  no 
real  progress  was  made  with  cane  on 
the  Island  until  about  1772. 

After  that  year,  however,  any 
Spaniard  was  free  to  produce  sugar, 
and  this  led  to  such  an  increased 
production  that  the  exportation  more 
than  trebled  in  thirty  years. 

By  1800  Cuba  had  870  sugar  fac- 
tories and  was  exporting  more  than 
40,000  tons  a  year.  Owing  to  Napo- 
leon's "Continental  System"  which 
took  Europe  out  of  Cuba's  market 
during  the  first  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  the  industry  suffered 
heavily;  but  after  Napoleon's  fall, 
[59] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

with  intercourse  again  established, 
Cuba's  sugar  began  to  expand  at 
even  more  than  its  former  rapid  rate. 

Although  the  production  thus  in- 
creased, the  methods  of  cultivation 
and  manufacture  remained  crude  and 
primitive.  During  this  period  no 
reliable  statistics  were  recorded,  but 
it  is  known  that  in  1870  the  yearly 
output  ran  to  725,000  tons  which 
represented  the  product  of  no  fewer 
than  1,000  small  factories.  This 
period  of  prosperity  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  the  abolition  of  slavery 
and  by  the  "Ten  Years'  War"  with 
Spain.  This  war,  one  of  great  bitter- 
ness on  both  sides,  not  only  paralyzed 
commerce  but  led  to  the  devastation 
of  much  sugar  property. 

It  was  during  this  period,  too, 
that  the  competition  with  beetroot 
sugar  first  became  noticeably  threat- 
ening. After  the  war  was  over, 
however,  in  1878,  the  annual  output 
[60] 


World's  Sugar  Bowl 

rose  again  so  that,  in  1890,  625,000 
tons  were  produced  from  about  470 
factories.  From  this  point,  the  pro- 
duction went  steadily  upward  until 
it  reached  a  maximum  of  something 
over  a  million  tons  in  1894. 

In  the  following  year,  1895,  how- 
ever, the  final  rebellion  against  Spain 
broke  out,  and  after  much  devasta- 
tion, it  ended  in  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can War,  and  ultimately  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Cuban  Repub- 
lic. This  period  of  strife  was  the 
worst  in  the  entire  history  of  Cuba — 
on  both  sides  property  was  burned 
and  destroyed,  cattle  were  killed, 
and  other  reprisals  put  into  effect 
for  the  purpose  of  cutting  off  an 
opponent's  livelihood — for  the  Island 
itself  was  far  from  being  a  unit  on 
the  question  of  rebellion. 

Owing  to  the  demolition  of  fac- 
tories, the  burning  of  cane  fields  and 
the  destruction  of  work-cattle,  and 
[61] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

the  enlistment  of  citizens  in  the 
armies,  it  became  almost  an  impos- 
sibility to  carry  on  the  sugar  in- 
dustry at  all.  In  spite  of  the  strict 
orders  issued  by  the  Spanish  author- 
ities to  continue  grinding,  the  pro- 
duction, in  1897,  went  down  nearly 
to  200,000  tons. 

As  can  be  well  imagined,  the 
industry  recovered  h*it  slowly  when 
this  period  of  misery  and  destruction 
had  come  to  an  end;  factories  had 
been  destroyed;  the  working  popu- 
lation had  been  reduced  and  made 
more  or  less  unfit  for  work;  work- 
cattle,  representing  the  sole  means  of 
cultivation  and  conveyance,  had  been 
wantonly  destroyed;  the  financial 
situation  was  such  that  manufac- 
turers were  unable  to  raise  the  funds 
necessary  for  rebuilding  factories  or 
equipping  them;  and  a  general  period 
of  reconstruction  and  centralization 
set  in. 

[621 


World's  Sugar  Bowl 

Notwithstanding  this  set-back, 
production  rose  from  212,051  tons  in 
1897  to  612,775  in  1901,  passing  the 
million  ton  mark  in  1903,  the  million- 
and-a-half  ton  mark  in  1909,  the 
two-million  ton  mark  in  1913 — and, 
with  the  1915-16  season,  passed  the 
three-million  ton  mark. 


There  are  other  islands  in  the  West 
Indies  and  surroundings  which,  by 
reason  of  location  and  climate, 
might  seem  as  well  suited  to  sugar 
production  as  Cuba. 

There  are  several  reasons  why 
they  are  not — but  the  chief  of  these 
is  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment has  stamped  out  the  old  politi- 
cal unrest — the  wars  and  revolutions 
with  their  bloodshed — which,  form- 
erly kept  Cuba  down,  while  all  of 
Cuba's  neighbors,  save  Porto  Rico 
alone,  are  still  living,  politically,  in 
[631 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

the  tempestuous  pirate-times  of  cen- 
turies ago. 

If  we  look  at  Cuba's  less  fortunate 
neighbors — and  at  the  sugar  belt 
which  girdles  the  earth — it  would 
seem  as  if  the  same  tropical  rains  and 
sunshine  which  are  needed  for  the 
production  of  cane  also  conspire  to 
form  an  ideal  atmosphere  for  foment- 
ing political  unrest.  Hayti,  Guate- 
mala, San  Salvador,  Honduras, 
Nicaragua,  Costa  Rica,  and  Colombia 
— all  of  these  are  sugar  producing 
countries  on  a  limited  scale,  but  so 
subject  to  outbreaks  are  they,  that 
their  sugar  industries  have  never 
presented  an  inviting  appeal  to  the 
capital  necessary  to  bring  them  to 
their  maxima. 

In  Mexico,  from  which  much  might 
otherwise  be  expected,  there  is  chaos, 
and  the  threat  of  continued  chaos, 
while  Cuba,  much  better  suited  by 
soil  and  climate  to  sugar  production, 
[641 


World's  Sugar  Bowl 

with  the  United  States  Government 
fostering  her,  and  irrevocably  bound 
to  continue  safeguarding  her,  enjoys 
a  stability  which  may  well  be  com- 
pared with  the  stability,  for  example, 
of  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 

Cuba  has  always  had  her  soil;  she 
has  always  had  a  market  for  more 
sugar  than  she  could  produce.  Yet 
in  her  first  century  of  sugar  produc- 
tion she  reached  a  bare  million  tons 
of  production;  while  in  the  seven- 
teen years  since  she  has  been  a 
Republic,  in  spite  of  the  set-back  of 
a  reconstruction  period,  her  produc- 
tion has  jumped  to  three  million  tons. 
*  *  *  * 

The  chief  problem  in  sugar  growing 
(as  in  the  manufacture  of  any  com- 
modity) is  the  cost  of  production. 

As  to  Cuba's  cost  of  production, 

Willett  &  Gray  quoted  in  1910  the 

following  figures:   Cuba  sugar,  f.o.b. 

Cuba,   costs   $.0185   per   pound   or 

[65] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

$.0195  per  pound  c.i.f.  New  York. 
They  fixed  $.02  per  pound  as  the 
maximum  f  .o.b.  Cuba  cost  price,  and 
$.015  per  pound  as  the  minimum. 

Undoubtedly,  in  the  six  years 
which  have  intervened,  the  cost  of 
production  has  been  still  further 
reduced;  and  with  American  capital 
and  ingenuity  going  into  Cuba  as 
they  are,  another  decade  or  so  must 
see  production  costs  brought  down 
still  nearer  the  irreducible  minimum, 
i^  But  if  no  further  reduction  could 
be  wrought,  Cuba  stands  and  always 
must  stand  in  an  enviable  position 
with  relation  to  the  largest  buyer  of 
sugar  in  the  world. 

Spreading  out  over  and  around  her, 
within  easy  access,  lies  the  United 
States  which  buys  and  consumes 
about  Jour  million  tons  of  sugar  a 
year.  Less  than  one-fourth  of  this 
comes  from  Porto  Rico,  Hawaii,  and 
the  Philippines;  less  than  one-sixth 
[661 


World's  Sugar  Bowl 

is  beet  sugar  grown  within  her  own 
borders;  less  than  one-twentieth  is 
cane  sugar  of  her  own  growing. 

The  figures  of  Willett  &  Gray  show 
that  in  1914  the  United  States  im- 
ported 2,066,912  tons  of  cane  sugar 
in  addition  to  all  the  sugar  produc- 
tion of  her  own  states  and  territories. 
Cuba,  therefore,  had  at  her  very  door 
a  ready  market  for  practically  four- 
fifths  of  her  2,597,732  ton  crop. 

The  United  States,  of  course,  is 
not  her  only  market;  Cuba  is  nearer 
to  England  than  India;  nearer  to 
Central  Europe  than  Java.  And  the 
recent  past  has  shown  that  the 
slightest  strain  in  Europe  pulls  in- 
stantly on  the  Cuban  sugar  supply. 
*  *  *  * 

Porto  Rico  cannot  much  increase 
her  output;  her  total  area  is  con- 
siderably less  than  that  of  New 
Jersey,  and  only  a  small  portion  of 
this,  on  the  coastal  regions,  is  suited 
[67] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

to  cane-growing.  Hawaii  cannot 
compete  with  Cuba's  natural  ad- 
vantages to  the  point  of  much 
further  extension;  the  Philippines 
have  not  shown  much  progress,  their 
sugar  industry  is  still  in  its  experi- 
mental stage;  and  Mexico  is  out  of 
the  sugar  race  for  many  years  to 
come,  even  if  ideal  political  condi- 
tions could  prevail  and  continue. 
*  *  *  * 

It  would  seem  that  nature  had  out- 
done herself  to  make  Cuba  the  sugar 
bowl  of  the  world;  and  that  civili- 
zation had  done  her  part  in  settling 
the  world's  largest  market  for  sugar 
right  at  her  shores. 

What  further  the  future  holds  in 
store  for  Cuba  and  her  sugar,  de- 
pends now  on  the  skill  and  enter- 
prise of  man. 

^Cuban  Sugar  can  be  as  big  as  Mind 
and  Capital  can  make  it — and  there- 
in lies  America's  Opportunity. 
[68] 


•V.      V 


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V.  Cuban  Cane  Sugar — 
America's  Opportunity 

An  English  physician  living  on 
the  little  island  of  Trinidad  observed 
one  day  that  grass-like  plants  were 
coming  up  here  and  there  in  the  cane 
fields. 

The  planters  whom  he  asked  about 
it  told  him  it  was  grass,  and  showed 
no  further  curiosity.  The  physician, 
however,  unable  to  account  for  grass 
seeds  having  fallen  there,  suspected 
that  these  were  really  the  shoots  of 
seedling  sugar-canes. 

It  developed  later  that  both  the 
planters  and  the  physician  were  right. 
The  little  shoots  were  young  sugar- 
cane plants;  but  since  sugar  cane 
itself  is  a  giant  grass,  there  was  no 
mistake. 

The  importance  of  the  physician's 
observation  lay  in  the  fact  that  sugar- 
[691 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

cane  had  been  believed,  for  ages,  to 
be  sterile;  no  such  thing  as  a  seed- 
ling of  sugar  cane  had  ever  been 
heard  of. 

There  is,  be  it  known,  a  small 
company  of  cultivated  plants  which 
have  almost  altogether  given  up  the 
habit  of  seed-production.  The  horse- 
radish, for  example,  has  so  long  been 
seedless  that  offers  of  $50,000  have 
been  made  for  a  thimbleful  of  its 
seed.  Similarly,  the  common  potato 
has  almost  abandoned  the  habit,  and 
the  marked  improvement  in  our 
potatoes  as  against  those  of  thirty 
years  ago  is  due  wholly  to  the  fact 
that  some  seed-bearing  potatoes  were 
accidentally  discovered. 

The  cane,  for  ages,  has  been 
propagated  in  the  same  way  that  the 
potato  has.  When  potatoes  are 
planted,  one  of  the  twenty-seven 
eyes  of  a  potato  is  merely  placed  in 
the  ground  and  left  to  sprout;  when 
[70] 


Americas  Opportunity 

cane  is  planted,  one  of  the  short 
segments  of  the  stalk  is  placed  in  the 
ground  and  soon  throws  out  roots 
of  its  own.  When  plants  are  prop- 
agated in  this  way,  there  is  no 
chance  for  variation  and  consequent 
improvement.  It  is  the  same  old 
plant  growing  over  and  over  again — 
there  are  no  new  combinations  of 
heredity  to  combine  in  working  the 
wonders  of  variation. 

The  discovery  of  cane  seedlings, 
thus — although  undoubtedly  there 
had  been  many  such  seedlings,  un- 
noticed, before — was  one,  therefore, 
of  the  utmost  importance. 

The  Trinidad  physician,  full  of 
enthusiasm  at  uncovering  one  of 
Nature's  secrets,  transplanted  a  num- 
ber of  the  cane-seedlings,  brought 
them  to  maturity,  and  found  several 
new  and  apparently  superior  vari- 
eties of  the  cane  among  them. 

One  of  these  was  carried  subse- 
[711 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

quently  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
where  it  was  propagated  in  the  usual 
way,  so  that,  in  due  course,  sufficient 
plants  were  raised  from  it  to  be 
tested  as  to  their  qualities  of  growth, 
hardiness,  and  sugar-production.  It 
was  soon  discovered  that  the  prog- 
eny of  this  seedling  constituted 
virtually  a  new  race  of  sugar  cane; 
one  that  would  grow  on  land  so  poor 
that  it  had  been  allowed  to  remain 
fallow.  The  new  variety,  indeed, 
was  found  to  produce  more  sugar  on 
even  the  poorest  land  than  the 
ordinary  variety  produces  on  good 
land. 

The  impetus  which  this  discovery 
gave  to  the  study  of  improving  the 
cane  may  in  a  large  measure  account 
for  Hawaii's  great  superiority,  in  the 
quality  of  cane  raised,  over  other 
cane-producing  countries. 

In  Hawaii,  today,  not  only  is  the 
acreage  output  the  highest  of  any 
[721 


Americas  Opportunity 

cane-growing  country,  but  the  sugar 
content  of  the  cane  itself  is  higher. 
Hawaiian  cane  averages  more  than 
sixteen  parts  of  sugar  to  100  parts  of 
cane,  whereas  Cuban  cane  averages 
less  than  twelve  parts  of  sugar  to 
100  parts  of  cane.  Hawaii,  with  cer- 
tain natural  disadvantages,  could 
not,  in  fact,  market  sugar  profita- 
bly with  less  efficient  production. 
*  *  *  * 

•MM 

This  brings  us  to  the  first  great 
sugar  opportunity  of  Cuba — im- 
provement in  the  kinds  of  cane 
grown,  and  improvement  in  cane- 
growing  methods. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Cuban 
cane-growers  have  long  known  of 
better  varieties  which  might  easily 
be  procured  for  planting,  yet  these 
innovations  have  not  been  welcome. 
The  planters  are  familiar  with  the 
varieties  now  in  use,  while  new  kinds, 
of  course,  must  first  be  tried  out. 
[73] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

In  countries  where  planting  is  done 
every  year,  such  trials  entail  little 
risk;  for  should  the  crop  be  a  partial 
failure,  it  affects  only  that  year  and 
involves  no  further  loss.  But  in 
Cuba,  where  planting  is  done  but 
once  in  from  seven  to  ten  years,  the 
selection  of  the  wrong  kind  of  cane 
would  bring  ruin. 

So  Cuba's  cane-growers,  with 
neither  the  land  nor  the  resources, 
nor  the  enterprise  to  experiment, 
have  sat  idly  back,  planting,  in  most 
cases,  the  same  old  varieties  which 
the  Spaniards  brought  over  decades 
ago. 

Since  there  are  varieties  of  cane 
known  which  produce  about  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  more  sugar  than  the 
present  Cuban  cane,  there  is  ob- 
viously incentive,  a-plenty,  for  ex- 
perimentation with  better  varieties 
of  cane — if  the  experimenters  operate 
on  a  scale  large  enough  to  insure 
[741 


Americas  Opportunity 

constant  earnings  while  the  experi- 
mentation takes  place. 

Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the 
scientific  plant-breeder  can  work  a 
much  greater  increase,  even,  than  is 
represented  by  the  best  varieties  now 
in  existence.  By  cross-breeding  and 
selection,  if  enough  experiments  be 
tried,  it  will  be  possible  to  evolve  a 
variety  of  cane  which  will  get  the 
utmost  out  of  the  wonderful  soil 
Cuba  offers  as  a  habitat. 

To  the  hand-to-mouth  owner  of  a 
small  plantation,  such  experiments 
seem  out  of  the  question.  But  to  a 
company  with  a  100,000  to  500,000 
ton  production,  experimentation  up- 
on a  scale  bound  to  bring  success 
would  cost  a  mere  fraction  of  a  per 
cent,  of  its  earnings. 

The  result,  on  the  other  hand,  if, 

for  example,  a  twTenty-five  per  cent. 

increase  of  sugar  per   100  parts  of 

cane  were  secured,  would  represent 

[75] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

not  merely  a  twenty-five  per  cent, 
increase  in  earnings,  but  might  mean 
even  trebled  or  quadrupled  earnings ; 
for — since  it  costs  no  more  to  plant, 
or  cultivate,  or  harvest,  or  crush  the 
cane — every  additional  per  cent,  of 
sugar  secured  can  be  counted  net 

gain. 

*         *         *         * 

The  development  of  better  suited 
varieties  of  cane,  however,  repre- 
sents but  a  small  part  of  the  oppor- 
tunity offered  in  improved  sugar 
production.  Equally  great  advances 
might  also  be  attained  through  bet- 
ter methods  of  soil  tillage,  main- 
tenance of  property  and  plantation 
management. 

As  matters  now  stand,  deep  plow- 
ing is  almost  unknown  in  Cuba — 
scratching  the  soil  has  always 
brought  a  crop,  so  surface  scratching 
is  all  the  soil  has  had.  Once  the 
same  thorough  methods  that  are  the 
[761 


Americas  Opportunity 

rule  in  Iowa,  or  the  Dakotas,  or  Cal- 
ifornia, are  introduced  into  Cuban 
cane  culture,  amazing  results  may 
reasonably  be  expected. 

The  truth  is  that  the  land  is  so 
rich  and  the  climate  so  well  suited 
to  cane,  that  those  simple  methods 
of  making  agriculture  pay,  which 
every  other  farmer  employs,  have 
been  neglected  and  shunned;  and 
the  cane  crop  has  been  left  to  the 

graces  of  a  too  bounteous  Nature. 
*        *        *        * 

A  story  is  told  of  an  undertaking, 
some  years  ago,  to  provide  the 
American  Indian  with  better  means 
of  earning  his  livelihood.  The  ques- 
tion was  asked  of  a  wise  Indian 
commissioner  if,  in  his  estimation, 
the  Indian  could  successfully  engage 
in  raising  sugar  beets. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "if  he 
could  do  it  on  horseback." 

Very  similar,  indeed,  has  been  the 
[77] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

attitude  of  the  Cuban  cane-grower 

toward  his  cane. 

*         *         *         * 

Great  as  is  the  opportunity  of 
improving  Cuban  agriculture,  greater 
still  is  the  opportunity  of  improving 
Cuban  manufacturing. 

In  Hawaii,  for  example,  where 
sugar  efficiency,  both  in  growing  and 
in  manufacturing  has  always  to  be 
at  its  best,  as  high  as  ninety-five  per 
cent,  of  the  sugar  in  the  cane  is 
extracted.  In  Java,  Cuba's  nearest 
competitor,  the  extraction  averages 
well  over  ninety  per  cent.  But  in 
Cuba,  in  spite  of  much  modern  ma- 
chinery, the  extraction  is  materially 
/  less.  While  the  definite  figures  are 
not  available,  there  is  good  author- 
ity for  the  statement  that  the  aver- 
age loss  of  sugar  in  Cuba  exceeds 
that  of  any  other  cane  growing 
country. 

One  reason  for  this  wastage  is 
[78] 


Americas  Opportunity 

the  Cuban  climate.  The  same  well 
distributed  rains  which  make  the 
cane  grow  as  it  does,  serve  also  to 
make  the  cane  fields  and  the  roads 
impassable  to  the  harvesters.  The 
grinding,  therefore,  is  limited  to  the 
six  months'  dry  season.  During 
this  season  the  sugar  content  varies, 
from  eight  per  cent,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  season  up  to  twelve  and  fif- 
teen per  cent.,  and  even  more,  at 
its  end. 

The  same  hand-to-mouth  policy 
which  has  been  in  evidence  in  Cuban 
cane-growing  here  comes  to  the  sur- 
face in  Cuban  raw  sugar  manu- 
facturing. Instead  of  properly 
planning  the  grinding  of  the  crop  so 
as  to  distribute  it  over  the  grinding 
season,  thus  gaining  the  highest  per- 
centage of  extraction,  growers  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  holding  their 
crops  as  long  as  they  dared  for  a 
higher  sugar  content,  while  the  mills 
[79] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

lay  idle;  much  good  cane  has  thus 
been  lost  because  in  the  final-mo- 
ment rush  the  mills  were  taxed  far 
beyond  their  capacity.  It  has  be- 
come the  practice  of  mills,  thus,  to 
bend  every  effort  toward  handling 
the  largest  quantity  of  cane,  paying 
little  attention  to  the  wastage  which 
such  high  pressure  methods  involve. 
And  the  net  result  has  been  that 
Cuba  has  wasted  a  considerable 
percentage  of  her  sugar  which,  sim- 
ply by  efficient  management,  might 

have  been  saved. 

*         *         *         * 

Sugar-growing,  and  sugar-growing 
in  Cuba,  particularly,  must,  essen- 
tially, be  a  large  scale  operation. 

The  small  grower,  today,  finds 
himself  unable  to  compete  with  even 
the  few  moderate-sized  sugar  under- 
takings which  have  sprung  up  in 
Cuba;  and  with  production  be- 
coming better  and  better  organized, 
[80] 


Americas  Opportunity 

as  it  must,  his  position  will  become 
more  and  more  difficult. 

Quite  clearly  the  tendency  toward 
centralization  in  the  business  has 
been  written  into  the  figures:  in 
1800,  with  a  24,000  ton  production 
of  sugar,  there  were  870  factories  in 
Cuba;  by  1870,  with  a  725,000  ton 
production,  there  were  1,000  fac- 
tories— a  3200  per  cent,  increase  in 
production  with  only  a  sixteen  per 
cent,  increase  in  the  number  of  fac- 
tories— already  centralization  on  a 
small  scale  had  begun  to  set  in;  in 
1890,  with  a  625,000  ton  production, 
there  were  but  470  factories;  while 
in  1911,  with  nearly  a  2,000,000  ton 
production,  there  were  but  168  fac- 
tories. 

Yet  organization  and  centraliza- 
tion, which,  as  can  be  seen,  have  been 
the  tendency  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury, are  really  only  at  their  be- 
ginning in  Cuba — sugar  operations 
[811 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

from  this  time  forward  must  be 
upon  larger  and  larger  scales,  and 
the  trend  of  developments  give  prom- 
ise that  they  will  be. 

Cuba  has  much  modern  sugar 
machinery  and  many  modern  sugar 
mills;  she  needs  all  these,  and  more 
like  them;  but  Cuba's  big  opportu- 
nities are  not  alone  for  the  machinery 
salesman;  the  big  opportunities  she 
presents  are  for  enterprise  and  effici- 
ciency;  the  same  kind  of  enterprise 
and  efficiency  that  have  placed  Ameri- 
can steel,  American  automobiles, 
American  farm  machinery  and  other 
American  products  in  the  forefront 
of  the  world's  markets.  And  for 
such  enterprise  and  efficiency,  her 
sugar  can  afford  to  pay,  as  neither 
steel  nor  automobiles  nor  farm  ma- 
chinery have  ever  been  able  to  pay. 
*  *  *  * 

Just  as  Cuba  has  conducted  her 
cane-growing   and   her  milling  in  a 

[82] 


Americas  Opportunity 

hand-to-mouth  fashion,  so  too  has 
she  conducted  the  marketing  of  this, 
her  most  important  crop. 

Cuba's  cane-growers  have  always 
been  at  the  mercy  of  the  fluctuations 
of  the  market — at  the  mercy,  some- 
times, of  artificial  conditions  created 
for  the  purpose  of  making  the  mar- 
ket fluctuate.  The  growers,  in  times 
of  plenty,  have  been  compelled  to  sell 
at  a  low  market,  and  have  found 
tnemselves,  later,  in  times  of  scarcity 
and  with  prices  soaring,  without  a 
product  to  deliver.  The  producer 
thus  has  suffered,  at  no  advantage 
to  the  consumer.  Nature  has  made 
Cuba  strong  in  sugar,  but  ineffi- 
ciency has  made  her  weak  in  finance, 
and  she  has  been  pinched  and 
squeezed  in  times  when  she  might 

as  easily  have  dictated. 

*         *         *         * 

Cuba's  great  opportunity,  thus, 
will  belong  to  Capital — fearless  capi- 

[83] 


Cuban    Cane    Sugar 

tal  which  shall  lift  her  chief  industry 
out  of  its  Spanish  lethargy — capital 
to  provide  improvements  in  agricul- 
ture and  in  manufacture — capital, 
with  confidence,  to  create  marketing 
conditions,  instead  of  being  the  slave 
of  them. 

Already  American  capital  is  work- 
ing wonders  for  Cuba  in  other  lines — 
already  it  has  spanned  her  length 
with  a  modern  railroad  and  brought 
the  island  within  train  and  ferry 
distance  of  New  York;  and  already 
American  investment  in  transport- 
ation is  beginning  to  reap  its  reward. 
*  *  *  * 

Improved  methods  of  cane-grow- 
ing— up  to  date  agriculture;  im- 
proved methods  of  sugar-making — 
up  to  date  manufacturing;  improved 
methods  of  marketing — up  to  date 
merchandising;  these  are  the  definite 
ways  in  which  Cuban  cane  sugar  can 
be  placed  on  a  higher  plane.  These 
[84] 


Americas  Opportunity 

are  the  definite  opportunities,  there- 
fore, which  are  now  opened  up  to 
American  industry,  efficiency  and 
capital. 


[  THE  END  ] 


85  ] 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 
This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed, 
icwed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


AU624J96973 


REC'D  LD 


NOV  2  3  1975 


"REC.  CIR.     JUN" 


29 


PR<64  1988 


75 


IN  ST 


\ 
i 

APR  2 

107* 

3 


APR  18  1988 


LD21A-60m-6,'69 
(J9096slO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YA 


BERKELEY  L/BBABIES 


978901 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


